Crime

A crime writing festival draws readers who follow detectives, forensics and motive across a series, not just a single book. The fairs gathered under this tag put the investigation at the centre of the programme, with authors who work in procedure, psychology and suspense. Expect talk of clues, alibis and the moment a case turns.

Bloody Scotland and Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival both build their programmes around the investigation itself: panels where pathologists, detectives and novelists argue over how a body is found and how a case is closed. That focus separates them from the comics and children's fairs, where the draw is illustration or a story read aloud. Here the crowd arrives already knowing the difference between a procedural and a locked-room puzzle, and wants the writers to defend their methods.